New publishing venture will celebrate the best of Australian writing

Some of Australia’s most acclaimed writers, including Christos Tsolkias and Alice Pung, will feature in a groundbreaking collaboration between the University of Melbourne, independent publisher Black Inc. and the State Library Victoria.

In a series of six short books, Writers on Writers, to be launched in October, each author will reflect on another Australian writer who has inspired and influenced them.

Professor Denise Varney, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University, says Writers on Writers will offer a new perspective on Australian literature from the point of view of practitioners themselves. “We will discover what writers learn from each other and how the craft of writing develops and changes.”

In one of the two titles that will begin the series, Melbourne-based author, editor and University of Melbourne alumna Alice Pung writes about John Marsden, one of Australia’s most popular writers of fiction for children and young adults.

'Barracuda' by Christos Tsiolkas

Also released in October, Erik Jensen delves into the world of celebrated Australian novelist and poet Kate Jennings by exploring the sparse, pungent prose of Jennings’s novel Snake.

Mr Jensen is the editor of The Saturday Paper and author of Acute Misfortune: The life and death of Adam Cullen, a biography of the late Archibald Prize-winning artist.

These two titles will be followed by the release in May 2018 of Christos Tsolkias on novelist and playwright Patrick White, author of the literary classic Voss and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature.

Mr Tsolkias, a University of Melbourne graduate, is the award-winning author of five novels, including The Slap and Barracuda.

Black Inc. publisher Chris Feik says each book will have its own unique flavour, voice and approach. “We hope these memorable encounters between writers will open up new reading worlds and shine a fresh light on past treasures.”

Ms Justine Hyde, Director Library Services and Experience at the State Library, says the series will celebrate the distinctive voice of the Australian literature that has been such a major part of the Library’s collection for more than 150 years.

“Australia has a rich literary heritage which this series explored through a writer’s eyes to give a deeper understanding of the art and craft of the creative act ands its written expression.”